English 142 - Winter, 2012

Early American Literature

Class Information

Instructor: Ziser, Michael
CRN: 32606
Time: MWF 10:00-10:50
Location: 118 Olson

Description

This course is an advanced introduction to the key writers of the "old, weird America"--from the flabbergasted reportage of English explorers in the 16th century to the bizarro 18th-century novels of the fledgling United States. We'll misinterpret Powhatans with Capt. John Smith, examine miscarriages alongside John Winthrop, taste fawn fetus with Mary Rowlandson, summon divine ravishment with Edward Taylor, experience frontier loneliness through Anne Bradstreet, cast spiders into the abyss with Jonathan Edwards, mock our rivals with Ben Franklin, and sow profound existential confusion with Charles Brockden Brown.

Grading

Quizzes: 15%
Final: 15%
Paper 1: 25%
Paper 2: 30%
3 Short Assignments: 15%

Texts

Norton Anthology of American Literature, Volume A: To 1820 (8th edition, 2011), Baym et al
Arthur Mervyn, Charles Brockden Brown